


Come On Home

by karakael



Category: GaoGaiGar
Genre: Alternate Universe - Western, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-14
Updated: 2015-01-14
Packaged: 2018-03-07 12:12:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3173438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/karakael/pseuds/karakael
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The little town of Shimshock gets an unusual visitor, who sends their eclectic home into disarray when he starts looking for a missing girl.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Come On Home

The man blew into town on a day with no train, walking in from the desert as if there was nothing more natural. His clothes were worn, made of grey and black leather and canvas, but he walked as if he owned the world. The silver cowboy hat was slung low over his eyes, so that all that could be seen was the a shock of green hair framing his face and then sweeping up in the back, pushing the hat forward. 

Ed Hartly was the first to see him, and he swore that the man had a red halo for a second, before he turned and came into focus. But Hartly was the sort to look for auras, and whatever he saw or didn't see made him give the man a chance, rather than having the sheriff run the stranger out immediately. He regretted the decision shortly thereafter.

"Howdy, sir." Ed said, finishing tying up his cart and turning to get a better look at the man. He had to look a long way up to catch a glimpse of his face - the man must have stood at seven feet. 

The man nodded in response, and took a moment to look around the town, inn, store, jail, a dozen houses and half a dozen more businesses. It didn't take long.

"Where you from, Mister?" Ed prompted when the man had finished.

The pause lengthened, enough that Ed wondered if the man was going to answer at all. But finally -

"The East."

"Coast? What's a city boy like you doing all the way out here?" The man didn't look like a city-boy, what with those silver spurs that clicked with each step he took. But he didn't look like a cowboy either, not with the grey-green leather gloves that creaked when he shifted to look straight at Ed. 

Suddenly, Ed wasn't sure if he wanted to know the answer to his question. But the man gave it anyway.

"I'm looking for someone."

Ed gulped. "Well, we get all sorts through here. Miners heading into the mountains, ranchers coming to the fairs, all sorts of farmers..."

"You would have remembered her." 

Then the man shuffled and reached in the pocket of his jacket and drew out a worn photograph. 

There was a girl in it, young, pretty, with bright red hair and tiny glasses balanced on her nose. But, just like the man she looked...wrong. Her hair was too flat, for one, and the dress seemed tacked on, not the sort of thing a lady with those strong muscles would wear. It was...floofy, the height of fashion, but it couldn't hide the eyes that looked out of the picture. They were hard, level, and cold, captured perfectly inspite of the blurry photograph. No Lady Ed had ever heard of had eyes like that. He could see why the man thought he would remember her.

"Sorry, I've never seen a girl like that. But I just got in myself from a month on the range - you might try in the bar, see if anyone else might have seen her." 

The man nodded and turned, leaving without even thanking Ed. And that's when the rancher saw the strangest thing about the man - other than the odd halo, the hidden eyes, and the silence. 

He wore a sword on his hip. An old-fashioned one, not like the ones the cavalry officers used. Those were thin - rapiers, Ed remembered from his army days - or thick and curved - sabers. This sword wasn't like either of those. It looked instead like something a knight in a picture book would carry; a full scabbard, with a stone on the pommel, and heavy enough to tug at the leather belt the man wore it on. 

It was on the right hip, so surely it must just be ornamental, and he carried a pistol just like everyone else, but no man Ed had ever met had carried a sword like that. It should have looked silly. It didn't. Instead, it left Ed wondering what that poor girl had done, that would get a man like that sent after her. It was just as well that Ed hadn't recognized her, and that his next trip would take him far away from the strange man. He was glad to be gone before the danger rode in.

\------------------ 

The man received much the same reaction from the men and women in the bar as he did from Ed Hartly. At first, none could quite believe the strange, imposing man that entered through the front doors, took a moment to levely take the whole room in, and then just as silently went to request a room from the innkeeper who lent out the rooms above. 

He had no bags and no horses to stable, but the train hadn't come yet, and so the whispers started. 

How had the man got there? What did he want? Who was he?

But when the man returned to the bar, after touring his room quickly, the patrons silenced themselves quickly and watched, curious, wondering what a man like that would order at a bar like theirs.

Nothing, it turned out.

The man strode to the bar, nodded once to the bartender, then turned and spoke to the whole room.

"I'm looking for a woman. Red hair, young, would have come in on the train. She might have been injured." 

There were glances between the patrons. Girls showed up all the time, though less than young men. Both were usually looking for work, and most found it as farm girls or cowhands. The unlucky ones ended up in the brothel or working in the mines, but most were happy enough. Most were running from something, though, and would fight like hell rather than go back.

Surreptitiously, a man on the edge of the room stood and slipped out the back, disappearing before the picture was handed around.

"Why're you looking?" Cindy Denton finally asked, examining the photo critically, her mouth a tight line and her hand heavy. She didn't like to see girls going to the brothel, but she liked seeing them dragged home even less. She ran the local post office out of her tiny house on the outskirts of town, and was always there to help a girl who needed to find a new home quick.

"She left a family behind." The man said, as if that was any explanation. "They would like to see her again."

"Right." Cindy tried to catch a glimpse of the man's eyes, but they were still hidden beneath his green-and-orange fringe, despite the fact that he had taken his hat off when he'd gone to his room.

"When would this have been?" asked Doc Patsy. He was here on his lunch, but also because his office was wicked hot. He was a chubby man, but a damned fine doctor, and his white suit contrasted well with his dark skin and fuzzy human hair. Cindy knew him well, and sent plenty of girls his way to help them get rid of more traditional problems.

The man considered. "Within the last three months. She probably would have come in on the train, and would have started off looking for work."

"Sound like one of the farm-girls. We get them all the time." This from Bernstock, the proprietor of the store. "But I ain't seen none like that come by for groceries."

"Maybe one of the further farms, then." Suggested Tina, the bar-keepers' daughter and helper. 

"Or one of those new girls over at Dandy's!" one of the cowhands suggested. "I think they've got a new red-head!" 

Cindy shot him a glare, then turned to the stranger. "She might be here, sir. But unless she's done something wrong, you have no right to take her back!"

"She's right. People run to the West for freedom." Explained Jason, the barman. "We don't take kindly to people being taken away."

"Especially if they don't want to go." Doc added.

A strange expression crossed the man's face. It was the first real emotion anyone had seen on him, and for a moment it broke his cold, professional demeanor. 

Cindy said in made him look - just for a second - sad and worried.

"If...if she wishes to remain here, no one will force her to leave. I promise you that." 

Somehow, they knew he spoke truth. But Cindy still felt a trace of sadness in his voice, for all that his face had returned to that stony blankness.

"Well." Crow-child said, breaking the silence and fluffing her feathers. "Your words have the ring of truth. If she's here, someone will recognize her."

Jason nodded, and smiled at his wife. "She's right. Just stay here, and just about everybody comes by at least once. It won't take long before someone - "

But he was interrupted by a gunshot ringing out across the town, and a voice yelling. 

"Stranger, we have your girl, and we'll kill her if you don't come out now!"

\-------------- 

Given the circumstances, it was a surprise how slow the man moved. Cindy, who had been watching the man's face carefully, could have sworn he snorted. Later she understood why, but it was odd at the time, given the effort the man had clearly gone to to find the girl, and his apparent lack for her safety.

Of course, everyone in the bar could recognize the voice of Robert Kingston, the leader of the local group of drunks and rabble. Things tended to go south when bird-man Kingston was involved, and Jason was already putting the bottles under the counter as the stranger ambled back out the door and into the dusty street. Cindy followed, but the others wisely started leaving for safer locals.

And there, in the street and surrounded by his gang of fools, was Robbie with a gun to the poor red-headed lizard girl from the brothel that the cowhand had mentioned. She was sobbing salty tears, but couldn't move for fear of the gun in the man's hands. For all that Kingston was a fool, he was also a damn good shot and a quick draw. The girl was as good as dead if anyone made a wrong move.

Cindy swore under her breath. The girl in the picture had been human, and if that stooge had just stayed a fraction of a second longer, this could all have been avoided.

"See, this is the way its gonna go. You're gonna pay 5,000 for your girl here, or you'll never see her again. And don't you dare go for your gun!"

The last was shouted out fast, and the stranger carefully put his hands up, far away from the holster on his hips.

"Yeah, you think you're a fancy-man from out East, but no one's gonna help you now. I own this town, and so you better get on the telegraph, and get that money right quick!" Kingston said, irritation on his face. He clearly had expected more begging from the man, and was angry he wasn't getting it. 

Cindy hurried forward, towards the stranger, intent on telling him how dangerous Kingston was - and wasn't. But a bullet zinged to her feet and she stopped, looking up the barrel of one of Kingston's men's rifles.

"And don't any of you make a move, or the girl gets it!"

Kingston turned back to the man. "Well? What's it gonna be, stranger? Dead girl, or 5,000?"

Silence. The man didn't move, either to leave for the money or to draw his gun. He just stood there, hands half raised, as if considering his options. 

Cindy shivered. The stranger might be mysterious, but was he the kind of man to let an innocent bystander die? 

Kingston was sweating now. Maybe the reality of the situation was setting in, and he realized that things weren't going according to plan. Unfortunately, that nervousness only made him less rational, and more likely to make bad mistakes...

BANG!

The gun was shot from Kingston's hand, and six rifles and three dozen eyes swung to the stranger. He hadn't moved.

But Cindy saw the ghost of a smile on his mouth.

"Robbie Kingston, are you really that much of a fool?"

The eyes shifted further back, taking in the deputy sheriff, who was walking down the street casual as could be, despite having drawn, shot a gun out of another man's hand without hurting a single soul, and re-holstered his gun in the space of less than a second.

"Deputy Lion, this is a business transaction between two - "

"Robbie, drop the lizard-shit." The deputy demanded, apparently not listening to a word the drunk said. "This ain't the girl the man's looking for, which you would have known, if you had even half a brain in that head of yours."

"But - "

"And you called him out here for what? Money? Or a duel? You should know better, dealing with an Easterner like him. I bet - " And the deputy drew the strangers gun from his holster without so much as a by-you-leave "Yes, he's loaded it wrong. If he was fool enough to fire it, we'd all be gonners. So why don't you let the girl go, Robbie, and we won't say no more about it."

The deputy shook the bullets into his palm, and began the process of re-loading the pulse-pistol. Robbie watched him carefully, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"Well?" He said, as he slotted the last bullet into place and looked up.

And then Robbie proved once again that he was a fool. "No. I think you're lying. Even if this isn't the girl, you're not gonna let me walk away, are you? Once the girl's gone, you'll shoot us all."

"Now, Robbie, I take my word very seriously. Its your last chance."

"No! You're not getting me this time!" 

And Robbie drew his second pistol, drew back the safety, and shot the poor girl dead.

At least, that's what he tried to do. He got as far as the trigger before he realized that the rest of his men were falling around him, and the bullet hit his brain at the same moment he pulled the trigger. When the smoke cleared, there were seven neat bodies strewn down mainstreet, and the deputy re-holstered his pistol and handed back the pulse-pistol to the stranger. 

The stranger who was holding the fainted lizard-girl in one arm and looking for all the world as if this was the most natural thing. He was staring at the deputy, a smile playing at the corner of his lips.

Cindy hadn't even seen him move. But the girl was safe, and the idiots dead, and so the postmistress found herself running forward, mouth moving a mile a minute, apologizing and rescuing the girl all at once.

"Sorry, sir, that you had to be a part of that. I promise your girl won't be harmed like her, don't you worry, I'll just take this one off your hands - "

"I won't be needing you to look any further, ma'am." He said, cautious smile still on his face, as he handed the girl over.

"But this isn't -" 

Then Cindy turned, and looked at the Deputy. The deputy with the wide hips and the smell of metal on him who had arrived not but three weeks ago, and still walked with a limp. 

He had shoved his hands in his pockets, and was leaning back on his heels, but the smile on his face was growing every second.

"Its good to see you, J."

"Renais. You're - " A pause, while the stranger seemed to choke on his words. "Alive."

The deputy huffed. "You would have known if I wasn't."

The stranger looked away. "The crash - your signal was gone. They were worried you might have overheated. That you lost your stone. Or that - " another pause, and Cindy had to strain to hear the next words. "Or that you were trying to disappear."

"You bloody fools." Was all the deputy could answer before Jason interrupted.

"Sorry, sir, but Deputy Lion is the girl you're looking for? How is that - "

Then he stopped himself and all the pieces started clicking together. The deputy had shown up two months ago, answering an old, old ad. And he had been damn good at it, so good that they had never considered that he might be running from something. 

"I got shot down three months ago, 'bout a hundred miles East." The deputy explained, reaching up to loosen the string on his wide-brimmed hat. "First town I found didn't have much work for women, and the authorities started being a bit too interested in where I came from. So I hopped the first train East, going as far as my money would take me, and switched my identity on the ride over."

The hat came off, revealing red hair and fringe, all tied up in a tight braid atop the man's - woman's - head. 

She turned to the stranger. "I knew you'd find me eventually. I just had to sit and wait. Make a home, if it took too long."

"Did it?" The stranger, J, asked. "I came as fast as I could, but if you want to stay - "

That plaintive, sad tone was completely alien coming from the imposing stranger's throat. His hands were twisted in his scarf, and he seemed to be looking anywhere but the woman's face.

"Stay here? When I could be out saving the galaxy? Are you mad?" The woman asked. "I've got a family to go home to, don't I?"

The smile that broke out over the strangers face seemed to light the world. 

"Of course you do. Come home with me, Renais."


End file.
